Marney Cox, San Diego Association of Governments

Comic-Con -- the three-day fantasy extravaganza -- took over the convention center this past week and participants filled surrounding hotels and restaurants. From an economic point of view, summer tourism could thrive without CC, which actually displaces events that would otherwise use the convention center, with participants that would frequent the hotels and restaurants; in other words, no net loss. However, in light of the pending doom in the world today, I was comforted with all the superheroes in town, especially the Silver Surfer, a noble yet tormented soul that, like many economists, treasures freedom above all.

Phil Blair, Manpower

San Diego is such a perfect vacation and staycation area that millions of tourists would still come every summer to enjoy San Diego. What would be lost is millions of dollars of immediate infusion of money to our tourism business and more importantly the worldwide exposure of San Diego being tied to Comic-Con. Just last night I saw a new movie that featured San Diego’s Convention Center and Comic-Con. That huge exposure can never be bought and feeds our current and future tourism business.

Kelly Cunningham, National University System

Although Comic-Con is a phenomenon attracting thousands of visitors and promoting San Diego’s image across the globe, the local visitor industry would still thrive if it was not held here. Arguably hosting Comic-Con in the midst of the busiest visitor season of the year is actually counterproductive as some stay away because of overcrowding during the event. It would be more productive to hold during a much less congested time of year. Nevertheless, it is a noteworthy event putting the spotlight on San Diego and bolstering the economy. My favorite superhero remains Superman -- battling for truth, justice and the American way!

Gina Champion-Cain, American International Investments

San Diego summers themselves are a big enough draw to fill our hotels, restaurants and bars. Measures of economic impact from specific events, such as Comic-Con, are often misleading as they attribute all dollars spent during these events to the event itself as though the region would have gone totally dormant had the event not been held. Yet, there is a very important balance in this community between having very vibrant conventions and celebrating the benefits of living in an area that offers so much that it does not need to rely on special events to bring people here during our beautiful summers.

p.s. My fav superhero is and has always been Superman. I can't explain it other than I love everything about his story. No other Superhero is even close for me.

Alan Gin, University of San Diego

But it would not thrive nearly as much. The estimated economic impact is nearly $180 million as tens of thousands of people from outside the region spend money at local businesses. But that is only about 1 percent of the tourism industry’s annual economic impact on the region ($18 billion). People will come to San Diego in the summer even without Comic-Con.